Symbol of Overpopulation

The powers behind the RH Bill, the prime movers of all possible ways and means of contraception, the multinational pharmaceuticals wallowing in corporate greed though the unlimited manufacture and wanton sale of all kinds of contraceptives – they recently came up with another gross game plan. They have no qualm of conscience in using anybody and anything to promote population control in the world, the Philippines well included.

This time, after receipt of their proper cue, key representatives of said anti-natalist agents went to a hospital. There they waited for a baby to be born. Immediately thereafter, they used the tiny, innocent and helpless creature as a symbol of overpopulation. To somehow blur their base agenda, they heaped gifts upon the baby who is precisely supposed to stand as a bad omen for the Philippines, for the world as a whole. They saw to it though that the mother is “plugged” – as a matter of course – to prevent her for conceiving.

If these anti-people characters are really convinced that hunger and misery merely depend on the number of population, how do they explain the fact that are under-populated nations that are in want while there are other much populated countries that have enough? More. Why is it that there are people in different parts of the globe with supposedly well-controlled population, or now however staging long and loud rallies on account of consequently deprivation – such as at Wall Street?

There must be something else that make nations affluent or miserable other that their population alone. Population can either be the backbone of an economy or the curse of development. This being the case, there must be something else – than population alone – that makes the difference between the affluence and misery of people. To claim that the number alone of population is a blessing or damnation, is a too simplistic conviction to take intelligently, seriously. Why is it that much populated China is an economic giant while there are scarcely populated areas in Africa that have been long suffering from grave and lasting want?

Questions: Specifically in the Philippines, why is it that there are certain families that are wallowing in wealth while a big number of Filipinos are drowning in misery? Why is it that public officials are synonymous with luxury while the common citizens are burdened by scarcity? Why is it the political dynasties are so rich that they no longer know ho and where to hide their money while the electorate making them such infallibly remain impoverished? There is something in there questions that demolish the myth that socio-economic development – or absence thereof – merely depends on material population count. What?

Fr. Fausto Tentorio, PME (+)

"He was an Italian who became a great Filipino - a communist... who devoted more than half of his life to serve the interest of the poor Filipino masses and make the cause of the Filipino as his own." So reads one of the many tributes given to the good Priest. So says the Secretary of the Southern Mindanao Regional Part Committee of the Communist Part of the Philippines.

He was an Italian priest who worked long and labored much in favor of the poor people he was assigned to serve. He was thus loved much by them whose sincerity they felt and whose dedication they witnessed. So it was that his murder was a big offence not only to God and but also a big loss to the people living in that small and distant place in Mindanao. So it was too that his person was exalted as his burial was mourned by friends and relatives alike. Thus it is that the Philippines again came to the attention of the International Community as a place to be despised, a Country to be shunned.

"Fr. Pops" - as he was amiably and fondly called by men, women and children in his Parish - not only preached the love that has to be lived between God and man but also the love that has to be practiced between man and his neighbors. Neither one nor the other - but both, together, inseparable. After all no less than God Himself told him that there are only two Commandments: Love of God, Love of Neighbor.

It is easy, fun and profitable even to preach and shout, to sing and dance purely about man loving and praising, worshiping and celebrating God. This is the verticalist faith that even the powerful and the wealthy, the criminal and the thieves would register no objection to - but could even find solace therein. This is the pure heaven and earth relationship that even politicians of all make and kind would be comfortable with.

But it is also a big mistake and a great deceit to say and insist that there is but the exclusive man and man relationship - God, never mind. It is a falsity to claim that everything is between mana and man here and now - hereafter and beyond, not relevant. This is the horizontalist faith that is atheistic in substance and communistic in import.

Together, the vertical and horizontal dimensions of faith and action - this is the Cross of Christ. This is genuine Christianity. This is the Social Doctrine of the Church where God and man meet. This is what makes the powerful and the wealthy uncomfortable. This is what angers Atheism, what challenges Communism.

Fr. Tentorio lived and preached the Cross of Christ. He was a genuine Christian, a good Priest, a true man of God for men. But a communist?

May They Rest in Peace

It is said that the moment one is born, he or she already begins to die. While this is a rather depressing way in looking at life with its many attributions and potentials, it is however an undeniable truth that life after all is in fact a transit from birth to death. It is also said when someone dies, this is not news. Instead when someone does not die at all – yes, this is news. While such is the reality, it however still remains true that sorrow usually accompanies death – neither laughter nor rejoicing.

There are certain thoughts that come to mind with the above observations which are not only relevant and valuable but also realistic and practical for those still counted among living – particularly so for those subscribing to the Christian Faith that has, keeps, and promotes teachings about life and death according to faith and reason. For example:

Whereas it is certain that life does not really come from nothing in here and now – even but considering bilateral parental contribution that made it existent – it is even much more certain that it neither becomes nothing hereafter and beyond. This is surely something good to remember and necessary to consider especially by individuals who are so addicted to power, to wealth and/or to the flesh – having the lingering thought that their present world is everlasting. Time eventually comes when they realize that such a posture or yearning is but one big and moral fallacy – such as with the arrival of a fatal accident or a deadly sickness.

If life simply ends and merely disappears after death, then the following would be silly and sad respectively: The respect for the life and the rights of others –killing would be alright. The recognition of the possession of others – stealing would be in order. The love of family and neighbors- causing havoc in domestic communities would be non-issue. The value of ethics and morals in societal living – everybody could do what he or she wants, period. The concern for public welfare and common good – the issue of public service would be nonsense. The quest for truth, justice and peace – the bigger the lie, the injustice and the conflict, the better.

For those who are realistic, especially so when they subscribe to everlasting life after this practically vicious and heartless world, the advent of death is but right and just. Otherwise, there would be no end to the following. The reign of the ruthless over the common people. The rule of the wealthy over the poor and the hungry. The dominion of criminals among the innocent and the helpless. The inhumanity of man to man – such as in terms of violation of women and children, the oppression of the weak and the miserable.

Yes, there is life after death. And to the dead – fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, friends and benefactors and everybody else: May they rest in peace.